Though North Salt Lake officials recently approved the site plan for a second phase of apartments at Eaglewood Village, there is still no sign of either the commercial properties or office space originally envisioned as part of the property. According to North Salt Lake Mayor Len Arave, similar redevelopment efforts on the city’s west side haven’t moved as quickly as city officials originally hoped.

‘We’ve had a little bit of activity there, but not as much as we would want,” he said. “Now that the market’s starting to recover, we’re hoping for some improvement.”

Eaglewood Village, located along Highway 89 in the southeast corner of the city, first broke ground in late 2007. The property has faced years of delays, including the 2008 recession and extra geotechnical work to stabilize the gravel-filled ground.

Vertical construction first occurred in early 2012, when work started on the first phase of apartments now currently at the site. Though the original development agreement with the city required that commercial or office property be sold before apartments could go in, the city council later waived the requirement.

“We would like to have commercial and office there, but that takes time,” Arave told the Clipper in late 2011. “It’s good to get started.”

Compass Development, who sold the commercial property to Strategic Capitol Partners, is still managing both the apartments now at Eaglewood Village as well as the new ones going in.

“Phase 1 leased really well and was completely full six weeks after we completed the last building,” said Ben Lowe, president of Compass Development.

Castlerock Communities, who is working with Compass and Strategic Capitol on the Phase II apartments, has also partnered with Strategic Capitol to oversee the 18 acres of commercial property still in the development.

“We are getting strong interest from retailers and office users for the commercial property, but are not at liberty to disclose the specific parties with whom we are having discussions,” said Seth Ure, a principal with Castlerock.

North Salt Lake is part of a Community Development Agreement (CDA) for Eaglewood Village, which means they get only a portion of any property tax increase caused by vertical development on the property (they still get the amount of base tax they received for the empty property.

Last year, the city entered into a similar CDA for the city’s west side, specifically the intersection of Center St. and Redwood Road.

Though neither CDA has been as successful as the city hoped, officials feel that patience is important.

“We think the incentives we have are reasonable and good,” said Arave. “We’re starting to hear rumors of more activity, so we don’t think we need anything else. We just need time and the right people.”